Northumberland County PA Archives Biographies.....MEUWESE, Rev. Aloysius 1859     

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      REV. ALOYSIUS MEUWESE, the beloved pastor of the Church of Our Lady of 

Mount Carmel, although a   resident of Mount Carmel for only a few years has so   

endeared himself to the faithful Roman Catholics of that borough, as well as to 

his neighbors of all religious creeds, that his departure would be looked upon 

as a misfortune to the town. A man of strong character, pleasant in his manner 

and forceful in his pulpit utterances, a devout follower of God, Father   

Meuwese is popular and has done much in a brief period of time to advance the 

interests of both his church and the town in which he so kindly and successfully   

presides over his church and his people.

        Father Meuwese is a son of Cornelius Francis and   Petronilla (Coppens) 

Meuwese. He was born December 5, 1859, in the city of Bois le Duc (Woods of the 

Duke), the ancient capital of the province of North Brabant, The Netherlands. He 

is the youngest of a family of twelve children, ten sons and two daughters. The 

oldest of his brothers, Lambert, was also a priest and served the church for a 

period of thirteen years faithfully in The Netherlands, and died in 1883. Our 

subject when quite young began his studies in the school of the Christian 

Brothers and there completed his elementary course, then entered the Petit 

Seminary in his native diocese where he applied himself to the classics, Latin 

and Greek. Having determined to enter the priesthood, he took the philosophical 

part of his course in the diocesan seminary at Haaren and completed his theology 

in the renowned American College at Louvain, Belgium. On April 14, 1884, he was 

ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal chapel of Bois le Duc by Rt. Rev. 

Adrian Godschalk, D. D. He departed from the land of his birth in the fall of 

1884 and landed at Vancouver, Wash., at that time a territory. His first 

appointment was as assistant in the cathedral in Vancouver, a teacher of the 

primary class at Holy Angels' College, and as rector in charge of seven missions 

in the vicinity of Vancouver. So well were his duties performed that our subject 

was within a year appointed resident rector of the Church of Our Lady, Queen of 

Heaven, in Sprague, Lincoln County, Wash., with a mission-field comprising 

territory seventy-five miles square, and which he was   obliged to cover on 

horseback in making his rounds and administering to the people. In 1890, his 

health having failed, on account of the arduous duties of his missionary life, 

he was transferred, at his own request, to Seattle, Wash., where he assumed the 

duties of assistant rector of the Church of Good Help.   He then took charge of 

many missions in the vicinity   of Seattle, frequently visiting the lumber 

camps, the mining villages and the fertile valley and hopfields   between 

Seattle and Tacoma. In 1892 Father Meuwese visited his native land for rest and 

returning in the fall of that year resumed his labors, giving up missionary work 

on the advice of his physician, and removing to the diocese of Harrisburg, Pa., 

in February, 1893, immediately locating in Mount Carmel where he has been active 

and successful since as a priest and pastor. He began his work in Mount Carmel 

as assistant to Father James O'Reilly and assumed the rectorate upon the 

transfer of the former priest to another parish in July, 1893.

        During his pastorate of the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, our 

subject has been energetic and assiduous in behalf of his people and the 

religion of which he is a firm and a consistent minister. He has organized 

several church societies, all of which have flourished and been productive of 

great good, including the St. Aloysius C. T. A. Society, Ladies' Temperance 

Society, the Cadets of Temperance, the St. Vincent de Paul's Society, and the 

customary societies common in the work of the Roman Catholic Church. Over all of 

these Father Meuwese keeps watchful eye and guides them with kindly, firm, 

fatherly hand, each one being of large membership and thoroughly alive and   

accomplishing much of the church work which contributes to the growth and the 

spiritual welfare of his parish. Especially devoted has been our subject to   

the cause of sobriety and to him many times have been paid the tearful, yet 

joyful, tributes of mothers, wives, and even sweethearts, because of his good   

influence with and his helpfulness towards their loved ones. Quiet and 

unassuming, Father Meuwese has a delightfully informal manner which makes his   

visitations anxiously looked forward to.

        The parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel contains something over 400 

families and it has prospered finely considering that it is comparatively young 

and that a period of depression in the business world has added to the 

difficulties which Father Meuwese and his   good people have had to contend 

against. As related elsewhere in this Book of Biographies, in a review of   the 

life-work of Very Rev. J. J. Koch, Mount Carmel was a mission attached to the 

parish of St. Edward's Church of Shamokin and was for a time presided over by   

Father Koch. The mission grew and in 1871 Father Fields of Centralia, now 

deceased, was placed in charge of it. Father Fields was succeeded by Rev. John   

O'Reilly, who was the first resident pastor, Mount Carmel having been made a 

separate parish. Father O'Reilly was a priest of marked ability and under his   

administration the new parish progressed successfully.

   On a visit to Marietta, on July 26, 1892, Father O'Reilly was stricken down, 

dying in a short time, cut off in the midst of a most useful and successful   

career. His burial at St. Joseph, Susquehanna County, was attended by a large 

delegation of his Mount Carmel parishioners, sorrowing greatly at the sudden 

taking   away of one whom they so dearly loved and respected.

   The succeeding pastor of the church was Rev. Mark A. O'Neil who finished the 

construction of the church which Father O'Reilly had begun. Father O'Neil lived   

to see the edifice dedicated in May, 1888, by Bishop McGovern of Harrisburg, 

soon after passing to his final reward. Rev. James O'Reilly was the next pastor 

of the church. He organized the parochial school and on September 25, 1892, was 

gratified by installing as instructors five Sisters of the Immaculate Heart from 

West Chester. The work so well begun by Father O'Reilly has been as well carried 

to its termination by Father Meuwese. Nearly 300 children are enrolled in the 

parochial school and the pastor hopes soon to be able to provide for a new and 

more adequate school building. 

          Additional Comments:

     Extracted from:          Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth 

Congressional District

     Published by      Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and 

Buffalo, NY (1899)